Chapter 195 - Vol. 3 - 68

"Oh, fuck," Ash laughed as she scanned her own body. "I forgot how good this feels~" 

In front of her, Yumi was panting. She was looking down at herself, particularly at the wetness between her legs, breathing heavily. Eventually, though, she stood and picked her clothes back up. 

"N-Now what?" Yumi asked as she put her shirt on with trembling hands. 

"Hm? Oh, right," Ash nodded as she remembered why they'd even done this. She walked up to Yumi and wrapped an arm around her waist, gesturing over at the beams. "Now, we go and break some shit, and then we leave. Ready?" 

"... Yes," Yumi took a deep breath, seemingly calming herself down. "Yes, yes. We... Yes." 

"Gotcha." 

And, without a warning, Ash put her other hand under Yumi's legs and swept her, taking her into a bridal carry. Yumi yelped.

"W-Wait, my naginata!" Yumi yelled out.

"Right. Pick it up!" Ash said, crouching so that Yumi could grab it.

And, with that, Ash grinned as she looked ahead, flapping her wings a couple of times before finally taking off into the air. 

Almost immediately, a few Lust demons spotted them. Ash watched as pursuers began to follow them through the air. Below, other demons noticed them flying over their heads and started dragging themselves through the muck, in their direction. 

"Well, looks like we're gonna have a party as soon as we reach that place," Ash muttered with a smirk. 

For a brief moment, she had enough sense to tell Yumi something fairly important. 

"Listen," she said, forcing herself to stop grinning, "one time, I did this with Satsuhiro, and he tried to get close to the things I'm going to be breaking. It didn't work out though because those objects give off demonic energy or something. So, what I'm trying to say is that you should keep your sweet ass away from those things. Got it?" 

"I..." Yumi said as she looked around with wide eyes. She didn't say anything else, instead, her lips parted and closed and repeated that process for a few seconds. 

Oh, right. Ash thought.

Flying was normal to her at this point, but to Yumi, this was her first time being lifted up into the air like this. 

"I'm gonna take that as a 'yes'," Ash replied as she spotted the sources of those beams up ahead. 

Aw. Crap. 

The pyramids appeared to be nestled between bundles of giant, black, trees with intertwining roots, their violet rays bursting through the branches. The worst part though was that the poisonous waters did reach this area, which meant that as Ash would need to drop Yumi off, the Zayama would see her movement impaired while Ash went from one pyramid to another. 

I need to be fast as fuck here. 

"Okay, Yumi, I just need ten seconds," Ash told her. "We have Lust demons behind us and a bunch of other demons that'll be here a little later. Just hold off a couple of them if you can, and I'll take care of these things." 

Yumi nodded and Ash took a deep breath as she descended. 

"Okay... Now!" 

In a split second, she dropped Yumi and launched herself headfirst towards the nearest pyramid. 

"WUAH!?" Yumi yelled out behind her, followed by some gurgling sounds.

What the fuck? 

Ash raised a brow, stopping in midair to turn around and see what had happened. 

Yumi wasn't there. Or, at least, she wasn't there in her entirety. Instead, her arms were flailing above the surface, but the rest of her body was submerged. As quickly as she could, Ash flew towards her, just as the incoming Lust demons were arriving.  Fuck, fuck. 

She grabbed Yumi by her wrists and pulled her out of the water, flying with her high up into the air. Yumi coughed out some of the filthy water she'd apparently inhaled as she'd nearly drowned. 

"What the fuck happened?" 

"The..." She coughed. "It's not as shallow as the other parts were..." 

"Well," Ash looked back at the demons chasing them through the air, "I have to drop you off somewhere, I can't deal with these things with you in my arms, as much as I wish that I could." 

"Uh, you can put me back in, I had just... not expected it. I'll be fine now, don't worry." 

"Can you stand, at least?" 

"The water reaches up to my neck, I think," Yumi took steady breaths, "you need to break those weird objects, correct? We do not have a choice, I believe." 

"... Fine. I'm heading back in. Get ready." 

"Right." 

Flying in a circle, Ash had intended to move back towards the earlier spot, but as she tried to, something struck her back. 

"AGH, FUCK!" She felt a sharp, cold pain. Instinctively, she moved to the left and a ball made of ice flew right her. 

"The demons," Yumi said, peeking over her shoulder, "they're casting spells at us!" To prove her point, as Ash flew left and right to avoid them, more spells barely missed her. 

"... Well this just got way more annoying," Ash said through gritted teeth. "Okay, change of plans. I'm dropping you right now." 

"What?" 

Just as Yumi responded, Ash let go of her. 

The Zayama all but screeched as she fell into the black water.  Sorry,  Ash thought as she turned towards her enemies in the air.  But I need to deal with these things before I can do anything else.

... Well, that, and that spell made me really fucking angry. That shit hurt. 

There were three Lust demons in total, with two of them still approaching and the one farthest to the back having halted, casting ice spells at her. The distance, though, made it easy to avoid them. 

Level 29

MP: 80/100

Level 30

MP: 40/50

Level 30

MP: 120/130

Ash narrowed her eyes at them as she pulled back a hand. 

"Corruption spread, corruption launch!" She said and a black sphere formed in the palm of her right hand. She launched it towards the nearest demon and managed to catch its head. It moaned out in pain, recoiling. 

The second one went to attack her, but Ash flew away and instead moved straight towards the one she'd hit. 

Flying up behind it, she wrapped an arm around her neck. It tried to bite her, but Ash acted too quickly for it to do so. She cranked back, pulling with as much force as she could muster, earning a  crack for her efforts, and the demon's arms went limp. 

Ash ignored the EXP message that appeared and let go of the creature, letting it fall into the black waters beneath her. 

Without hesitating, she cast the same spell at the demon she'd avoided, but this time, her attack didn't land. She didn't need it to though, as all she wanted was some space. 

Okay, now!  With both demons giving her room to work, Ash flew towards the pyramids.

She heard thunder cracking nearby and figured Yumi was using that ability again. As the demons realized what she was going for, both of them chased after her, but by now, she was too far ahead. She broke through the first one with a firm stomp, flying towards the next one. A few spheres of ice splashed into the water below as Ash dodged them, moving up to the second and punching straight through it. 

Okay, last one, where... 

Before she could find it though, demons screeching to her right. Glancing over, she saw that the monsters were getting dangerously close to Yumi, who was trying to move away from them. 

Yeah, I need to hurry- 

Something tackled her from behind. Ash was pushed into the waters and all she could see was darkness, with a pair of demonic hands trying to keep her under.  Because she'd been caught by surprise, Ash accidentally breathed in a little bit of water and coughed, trying her hardest not to take another breath.

Status Effect Gained: Poisoned

As the demon's hands tried to snuff the life out of her, Ash used her own to claw down its wrists. The demon let go of her and Ash flailed her limbs, trying to find the ground so she could stand up. It took a moment, but once she did, she stood up and got her head out of the water. 

"F- *cough* FUCK!" 

The demon in front of her raised a hand but Ash grabbed it before she could be attacked. Gritting her teeth, Ash swept the demon's legs out from under it and pushed it under the water herself. Only, she didn't stop there. She pushed it further and raised up a leg, pinning it to the ground with her foot. 

You like that!? You made me taste this shit, ugh!  Ash thought as soon, the demon stopped struggling against her. 

With that out of the way, Ash looked ahead and saw the last pyramid. She moved towards it, raising up a fist as other Lust demons were flying in towards her. Then, with a filth-covered fist, she punched straight through it. 

And, suddenly, the swamp disappeared and both Ash and Yumi popped back out, in front of Onyx, crashing onto the road. 

Covered in black water, Ash coughed a few more times and then grinned over at her partner, who was laying down on the dirt, staring up at the violet sky. 

"Well," Ash said, laughing, "Between the fucking and the action, you can't say I didn't show you a good time~"